A landlord in one of the most scenic parts of Devon had been served with a £18,000 civil penalty because he failed to do work demanded by an Improvement Notice.

The landlord has not been named by South Hams council, but it says the landlord has now organised for the repairs to be carried out – which he has paid for, in addition to the penalty.

“This is fantastic news for the tenant. It is also a great result for the council. A prosecution would have taken a considerable amount of time and money. We have achieved a great outcome for the tenant in a relatively short period of time” says a council spokesman.

“It is important for landlords to know that we have these powers and where necessary we will use them to protect our most vulnerable residents.”

The council decided to issue civil penalties under section 249a of The Housing Act 2004 as an alternative to a prosecution. This policy – Section 126 and schedule 9 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 – came into force on April 6 2017.

A London council wants to extend its private rental sector licensing scheme – and in doing so is boasting of the number of notices it’s so far issued against landlords.

Havering council has begun a consultation looking at extending its scheme, launched initially in March 2018.

As part of the publicity promoting its extension, the council says it has issued 133 financial penalty notices issued to unlicensed HMOs and 23 notices served warning landlords to improve standards.

There have also been 27 so-called ‘multi-agency’ enforcement operations; in addition, there have been 206 HMO licences issued.

Now there are plans to expand the HMO scheme from the current 12 wards to a further six. And on top of this, the proposals will also consider looking at introducing a selective licensing scheme to cover single family properties in two specific wards.

The council claims the usual justifications for such a scheme – to ensure there is “a choice of safe, quality and well-managed accommodation,” to “reduce anti-social behaviour in the private rented sector” and to “further increase enforcement action on landlords that operate below-standard and unlicensed properties.”